Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1887-12-22
Mechancsbwn Frederick County, Maryland Thursday December z 1887,
Patagonia.
A South American Country
that Exists only in name.

. There used to be place called Pata.
gonia. 1t appears on our biographies
now as "a drear unhabitable waste, upon
which herds Of wild horses and cattle
Craze, that are hunted for their flesh by
a few bands af savage Indians of i'm.
mense stature" l am quoting from q
school published in 1886 ,and in
common use in this county. The same
geography gives similar information
about "thc Argentine Confederation"
1t makes the Argentines roar with rage
to call their county 1.-The Argentine
Confederation" A bitter, bloody war
was fought to wipe that name off the
map, but our publishers still insist up.
on keeping it there. 1t is not confed-
Grafton, it is Nation, with big an
like ours-one and inseparable, united
we stand, diyided we fall that sorts of
thing-the Argentine Republic. To
call it any thing else is an insult to the
patriots who fought to make it SO, and
a reflection upon our own intelligence.
Several years ago Patagonia was di-
vded between Chilli and the Argen-
tine Republic, the Ministers from the
United States to those two countries
doing the carving. The summit of the
Cordlleras were fixed as the boundary
lines, Chill took the Strait Of Magel-
Ian and the strip along the Pacific coast
between the mountains and the sea,
and the Argentine Republic the pam
pas, the archipelago of TERRA del Fugo
being divided between them. Since the
partition ranchmen have been pushing
southwark with great rapidity, and
now the vast territory is practically oc-
cupied- There are no more wild cat,
tie or horses there than in Kansas, aud
the dreary, uninhabitabie wastes of
Patagonia have gone into oblivion with
the Great American Desert The
remnant of vast tribe of aboriglnes
still occupies the interior, but the 1ndi-
an problem Of the Argentine Republic
was solved in summary way. There
WAS considerable annoyance on the
frontier from bands of rowing savages,
who used to come north liz the winter
time, steal cattle, rob, despoil, and the
outposts of civilation were not safe
General Roca was. sent with brigade
of cavalry to the sfrontier, TO prevent
this sort of thing. East and west
across the territory runsjthe Rio Negro,
a swift, turbid stream like the Missouri
with high banks. Fifty miles or 50
from the mountains he river makes a
turn in its course, and leayes narrow
pathway through which everything
that enters or leaves. Patagonia by land
must 90. Across this pass of fifty miles
General Roca dug a ditch twelve feet
deep aud fifteen feet wide. The In
dians, to the number Of several thous.
and, were north when the work was
done, raidlng the settlements.
As spring came they turned to go
south as usual,ln long cavern, with
their stolen horses and cattle. Roca
galloped around their rear, and, drove
them night and day before him. When
they reached the ditch they be.
came bewildered for they could not
cross it, and after a few days OF slaught-
er the remnant that survived surren-
dered, and were distributed through
the army as soliers, while the women
were sent into semislavery among
the ranchmen they had robbed. The
dead animals and men we're buried to-
gether in the ditch and there has been
no further annoyance from Indians on
the frontier.
The few that remain seldom come
northward. bnt remain around Punta
Arenas, the only settlement in the Strait
hunting the ostrich and other wild
game, trading the skins for whiskey
and making themselves as wreshed as
possible. The robes are made Of
the skins Of the guanaco, species of
the lima, and the breasts of young os-
triches. There is nothing prettier than
on ostrich robe, but each one represents
the slaughter of from sixteen to twenty
birds, and they are getting rare and
expensive as the birds are being exter-
minated, as our buffaloes have been.
The Fair Sex.